Give Me Blood

Chapter 2: The Darkness of Sleep

 The darkness of sleep.

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"Steady your arm Emily. Focus on the target." My dad says as he watches me shoot the BB gun at the can on the other side of our backyard for the millionth time. The sound of the metal pellet hitting the aluminum hangs through the air.

"It's not even that hard, I've already shot a million of those things. Can I use a real gun now? " I begged looking over at my father with dull eyes. "I could hit those monsters with a real gun it I had a chance".

"Oh really. You think you're ready to for the real thing?" My dad comes closer, smirking at me.

"Do you see that squirrel Emily?" He crouches down to my level and points at the still creature sitting on the branch "try to shoot it down". He says calmly and confidently.

"But I don't want to shoot a squirrel, what did it ever do to you?" I pouted at him in protest.

"How about this? I'll bet you an ice-cream that you won't be able to shoot it down..." he said in a challenging voice standing up from his crouching position and averting his eyes. This made me perk up.

"What kind of ice-cream?" I asked him slowly, narrowing my eyes.

"Your favorite, cherry, of course" He knew he got me the second he finished the sentence. He used my only weakness against me.

"Fine, I'll do it" I said earning chuckle from my dad.

"Go ahead" my dad said gesturing at the tree confidently.

I pointed my gun at the tree, steadying my hold on the gun. And then I noticed that the squirrel had already left. Dad started laughing. Turns out he won the bet before it even started. I quickly turned to him.

"That's not fare..." I protested trying to wipe of the triumphant look on my dad's face.

"It's not as easy when your target can move, is it?" my dad asked like he was proving some point. I suddenly heard the door open to the back yard and familiar voice came.

"What are you doing out here Emily?......."

"Emily....Emily, wake up" a soft, deep voice got me out of my sleep.

"Emily, we're late for our jog" I groaned. That's right... I promised Hunter that I would go jogging with him today. I could feel him slightly shaking me from my dream. No, not dream, more like a nightmare, THE nightmare. I'm having it again. I really don't want to make Hunter worry about me by telling him. He does that easily when it comes to me.

Hunter is Nathaniel Grey's son. Just as I consider Nate as my father, Hunter is like a brother to me. He is a tall, dark guy, with a built figure and handsome face. I don't think it would exaggeration to say that all the girls in the school have confessed their love for him at some point.

"It's already 12 Emily" Hunter whispered gently smiling up at me. I groaned even louder.

"Okay, okay, I'm up" I said as I through aside my covers and got out of bed. I must have looked horrible for Hunter to look at me with those wide blue eyes.

"Did you have that dream again, I thought you were done with the dreams years ago"?" Hunter asked concerned. I didn't answer.

I started dreaming of my parents dying every night since the incident. They eventually stopped after I've been in the academy for almost a year, I think, but know I'm starting to have them all over again, and it's been taking its toll on me.

"Is it because it's been ten yea-" I cut him off since I knew were this was going.

"Don't." Like Father, like son. They mean the best.

"Give me a second, I'll change my clothes." I said as I grabbed my shirt starting to take it off.

"Sure, I'll just be waiting ov- WOAH!! w-what are you doing!?" Hunter said as I took off my shirt and put on a tank top. He covered his eyes with his muscular forearm.

"What do you think I'm doing? Changing my clothes" I said confused.

"Do you do this with every person that comes into your room? Don't do that with anyone else but me. got it?" His voice was stern but his face turned a light shade of red. Oh I get what's going on.

"Is little hunter embarrassed? You're so adorable!" I gushed as I walked up to him and grabbed his cheeks. He grabbed my hands firmly and starred into my eyes.

"I am not embarrassed! I'm angry that you aren't more cautious of changing in front of guys" he said in a serious tone, this made me grin at him childishly. I took my hand from his cheeks and started to jog out of my room into the courtyard.

"She never takes me seriously." I heard Hunter murmur almost to himself. He worries about me like a brother does, but I felt a little more anger radiant of him than usual. I back to my room and motioned him to get going.

"Come on, let's start, I have an appointment with your father in an hour." I told him as I started jogging toward the track. He caught up to me and we started jogging at the same pace.

I looked up at his face to see that he was deep in thought. I could tell by the ways his eyes furrowed together and his jaw was clenched. I must have really upset him...

I gently bumped my body against him to get his attention. His eyes immediately relaxed and he looked down at me with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm sorry Hunter...I didn't mean to upset you. It's just that I'm so comfortable around you that sometimes I let my guard down and don't think things through as much as I should. I would never do those things in front of people I'm not comfortable with" Which was mostly the truth. I have never been shy to change in front of others when training. It's really not that big of a deal to me but if Hunter is this upset about it, I can lie to make happy.

His mouth now held a wide grin and I swear he smirked to himself. His grin was much too big for a small apology like that.

He surprised me by grabbing my torso and pulling me into a tight hug. "I forgive you Emily, I will always forgive you...even if you end up stabbing me in the back" He whispered in my ear, my eyed still open wide with shock.

I laughed putting my arms around him and squeezing tightly. "That's a bit extreme...don't you think" I muttered into his chest. He pulled away and gave me a huge smile. We continued jogging forward with him right next to my shoulder for a while.

I was about head in to take a shower and have that talk with Nate, when I felt the uneasy feeling of being watched. I looked in the direction where I felt the gaze. There I saw a movement in the bushes, but made no move to investigate further. I knew it was gone by now, whatever it was.

I was dragged out of my thoughts when Hunter started to speak.

"By the way, what is it that my dad wanted to talk about with you?" He asked curiously remembering what I had told him right before we started jogging. I shook my head.

"I don't know.... but I have a feeling that it's going to be something important" 

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Thank you for reading. Please comment your thoughts.

And until next time.

Roniღ